Old-school fans know that Howard Phillips used to be Nintendo's Games Master, immortalized in the back-page "Howard & Nester" comic strip of the recently cancelled Nintendo Power magazine. Phillips is a guy who helped the company on its rise to power in the United States. He probably has all kinds of cool stuff…

Howard Phillips might not be as big a name in Nintendo history as men like Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata and Gunpei Yokoi. But his story is just as interesting, and the story of his role in the company's American invasion of the 1980s is one all Nintendo fans should enjoy.